Haven’t Used The Gutenberg WordPress Editor Yet? Then Start Here

Whether you are a full-on WordPress developer or just a hobby blogger, you should take a few moments to become acquainted with the upcoming Gutenberg WordPress editor. In fact, you can possess a fairly solid understanding of it in about 20 minutes. In this post, I’ll show you how.

Don't Ignore, Explore!

Let me be the first to admit, I really have not been following the Gutenberg updates, nor have I had any actual ‘hands-on’ experience with it until now. I’ve read a decent amount, but have not actually used it. And as we all know, until you actually use something…..

But I feel like there are many others in the same boat. You hear that it’s coming!!!, but you feel like you’ll get to it at some point, just not today…..there are a bunch of experts out there working on it and when they get closer to the WordPress 5.0 release, then you’ll worry about it, right?

Maybe so. But I want to suggest that you take 20 minutes, install the plugin on your local environment, and work through one simple exercise.

I guarantee that you will feel 100% more confident about it than you did 20 minutes prior. I did, and am actually a bit excited about it.

So grab your calendar, find a 20 minute block of time, and follow these three steps:

Test Drive The Gutenberg WordPress Editor In 3 Simple Steps

Video tutorial

If you prefer not to watch the video or need further instructions you can continue reading:

#1. Setup a local WordPress install

First, do NOT install or activate Gutenberg on your Production site. Do it on a local WordPress install. For this demonstration I will be using Local by Flywheel to spin up a local WordPress environment. If you feel more comfortable with Desktop Server or MAMP (or WAMP), no problem. Whatever floats your bloat. Go ahead and call it ‘Gutenberg Testing’ (and keep it close at hand for further testing down the road as well!).

#2. Install and Activate the Gutenberg plugin

Next, go ahead and install the Gutenberg plugin on your local WordPress environment. You can find it here or you can just go to the WordPress plugin repository and install it directly within your admin dashboard.

#3. Work through the demo page. It's actually a Tutorial!

Now that the Gutenberg plugin is installed and activated, notice that you have a new item in your Dashboard Menu Items called Gutenberg. If you hover over it, you will see ‘Demo.’ Click it.

This is not only a demo post using the Gutenberg WordPress editor, but if you take the time and read through it, it is actually a tutorial!

Start from the top and work your way through the post. Read the text, try out the examples, and edit, rearrange, and customize the blocks. Mess it all up in the name of learning!

After working through this demo myself, I felt much better having put my hands on this new Gutenberg WordPress editor.

Hopefully you will feel the same. It’s a great start.

If you want a more in-depth understanding of the new Gutenberg WordPress editor and its functionality, I would suggest you sign up for this e-course: An Introduction to Gutenberg by Joe Casabona. I found a coupon for 35% off this course. Just enter ‘bufftastic’ in the coupon code box.

The great thing about this course, besides gaining a good understanding of Gutenberg, is that it’s being constantly updated as we get closer to a 5.0 release.

If you are a developer and already have a grasp of the user side of Gutenberg, you can go deeper into the code with Zac Gordon’s course: Gutenberg Development.

Have you worked through this demo yet? How do you feel about the changes coming with the new Gutenberg WordPress editor?